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Hawaii’s popular Kalalau Trail closes after 24 hikers contract norovirus — and many blame defecating squatters
NY Post ^ | 9/07/24 | Angela Barbuti

Posted on 09/08/2024 12:56:46 AM PDT by Libloather

A popular hiking trail in Hawaii had to close this week after 24 hikers became sick from what is believed to be norovirus — an outbreak many blamed on illegal squatters defecating along the remote path.

A portion of the Kalalau Trail on the Kalalau section of the Nāpali Coast State Wilderness Park on the island of Kauai was shuttered for seven days beginning Sept. 4, the Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources posted on Facebook this week.

The DOH received reports of nausea, vomiting and diarrhea from hikers who had been on the 11-mile trail, which runs from Ke’e Beach to Kalalau Beach, from as early as Aug. 14.

So far, none have been hospitalized.

“This is a very concerning and rare occurrence, magnified by the extreme remote nature of the Kalalau Valley,” administrator of the DLNR’s Division of State Parks, Curt Cottrell, said in the post.

“We appreciate the DOH guidance in helping manage and mitigate this isolated outbreak in the hope no one else is exposed or gets sick.”

Some think the trail should be closed for a longer amount of time and blame illegal squatters and unsanitary conditions there for the spread of the disease — and have expressed their concerns via comments on the DLNR’s Facebook post.

“Norovirus can remain in feces for over two weeks after the virus has been passed,” wrote Alex Soule.

“The park needs to be closed for at least a month after all the illegal squatters [are] removed in order for the valley to be safe to visit. Unsanitary living conditions perpetuated by those who illegally occupy the valley caused this and it won’t end until they’re gone and the campground is cleaned.”

(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Conspiracy; Health/Medicine; Outdoors
KEYWORDS: hawaii; hikers; norovirus; squatters
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To: Libloather

Idiots probably stuff their faces before hiking, so they are really full of sh1t. Should have trail cams set up to identify and fine the filthy pigs.


21 posted on 09/08/2024 5:13:24 AM PDT by Omnivore-Dan
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To: Libloather

Everything the left touches turns to excrement.
And Hawaii is far left, so it is naturally turning into a pile of Dorkbamastuff.
Paradise lost.


22 posted on 09/08/2024 5:19:24 AM PDT by Da Coyote
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To: Libloather

And, when hiking, don’t play with poop.....


23 posted on 09/08/2024 5:34:29 AM PDT by trebb (So many fools - so little time...)
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To: Libloather

Welcome to the democrat’s Third World


24 posted on 09/08/2024 5:37:43 AM PDT by butlerweave
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To: Libloather

Part of the reason I passed on doing the Appalachian Trail. Some spots of these trails are just nasty.


25 posted on 09/08/2024 5:45:08 AM PDT by glorgau
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To: Libloather

How abput close la because of norovirus threat?


26 posted on 09/08/2024 5:47:23 AM PDT by Bob434
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To: Libloather
"24 hikers became sick from what is believed to be norovirus — an outbreak many blamed on illegal squatters defecating along the remote path."

I'm not a virologist, but I saw one on TV. Squatter crap on a hiking trail seems like a very unlikely vector. Of all the places one could contract this disease, how has it been decided, "oh yeah, definitely the poop trail caused it"? I could see contracting it at a hotel or restaurant, or someplace else with concentrations of people, but this story stinks.

27 posted on 09/08/2024 5:54:00 AM PDT by Flag_This (They're lying.)
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To: Flag_This

It seems that our homeless friends are taking the idea of being a “squatter” a bit too far.


28 posted on 09/08/2024 6:03:00 AM PDT by hal ogen (First Amendment or Reeducation Camp??)
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To: metmom

Unstated is “who are the squatters”

and as follow up, “why are there squatters on a hiking trail?”

It sounds to me like a made up tale to justify getting rid of squatters elsewhere


29 posted on 09/08/2024 6:04:27 AM PDT by bert ( (KE. NP. +12) Where is ZORRO when California so desperately needs him?)
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To: Flag_This

I had to think about that, but I don’t think it is implausible. I think there could easily have been separate groups of people who walked that trail where multiple people in each group got sick, and the only thing that tied them together was that hike.


30 posted on 09/08/2024 6:06:26 AM PDT by rlmorel (J.D. Vance and The Legend of The MaMaw of The 19 Loaded Guns!)
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To: rellic

Hawaii raises a lot of food but Honolulu and Waikiki are the problem, too many people. Hawaii imports something like 80% of their food.


31 posted on 09/08/2024 6:07:32 AM PDT by wildcard_redneck (He who sacrifices freedom for security deserves neither.)
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To: rellic

I think you might be right about Kauai but there Are also a lot of boats in Hawaii and they will probably try to go where.l the food is.


32 posted on 09/08/2024 6:11:09 AM PDT by wildcard_redneck (He who sacrifices freedom for security deserves neither.)
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To: glorgau

They actually ‘CLOSED’ part of the Appalachian Trail during ‘COVID’...can you imagine a norovirus outbreak from the huge unburied piles of human feces along the AT? Thru hikers carrying the noro into places like Gatlinburg?


33 posted on 09/08/2024 6:12:40 AM PDT by who knows what evil? (Hospitals are the most dangerous place on Earth! Dr. David Williams)
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To: hal ogen
"It seems that our homeless friends are taking the idea of being a “squatter” a bit too far."

It just seems that places like San Francisco and Portland would be far more likely to have a problem with squatter-borne norovirus, than an isolated hiking trail.

34 posted on 09/08/2024 6:15:42 AM PDT by Flag_This (They're lying.)
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To: Libloather

I had to laugh when I read this, because it reminded me of a anecdote related to me by my best friend from when he and his wife went out to Hawaii just a few years back and took a helicopter tour.

Their pilot (Army Afghan vet help pilot) was showing them remote and rugged terrain, and said “Hey, you want to see something?” and circled over a small beach, and he pointed towards the ground at a bunch of naked people looking up at them from the beach.

“Hippies!” he said, with a wide grin. He said it is against the law for them to be there, and the authorities keep going in and clearing them out, but more of them keep showing up there all the time!

When I saw this, I wondered if it was the same place...


35 posted on 09/08/2024 6:21:26 AM PDT by rlmorel (J.D. Vance and The Legend of The MaMaw of The 19 Loaded Guns!)
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To: rlmorel
"I think there could easily have been separate groups of people who walked that trail where multiple people in each group got sick, and the only thing that tied them together was that hike."

I get what you're saying, but there had to be other commonalities. 24 people out of how many who hiked it? How long between exposure and onset of symptoms? Was this really norovirus, or something else? Homeless people and squatters are all over the place now, if this were a likely scenario, you would think it would have occurred in a more populated setting first (and maybe it has, but I haven't seen the stories).

36 posted on 09/08/2024 6:23:27 AM PDT by Flag_This (They're lying.)
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To: Libloather

I thought defecating squatters went extinct a long time ago when REAL Americans were running the country.


37 posted on 09/08/2024 6:41:15 AM PDT by FlingWingFlyer (Liberals are FOS. The greatest threat to "democracy" is freeloader "immigration". Stupid morons.)
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To: rottndog

Exactly. It’s so weird but it’s like a 100% correlation.

Liberalism starts out smelling like weed and pee and ends up smelling like poop.


38 posted on 09/08/2024 7:03:52 AM PDT by edwinland
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To: Libloather

“defecating squatters”

Given it’s Norovirus, they could be defecating *squitters*, as well as “trombone vomiting”.

But, in the final analysis, “A real man stands up to shit.”


39 posted on 09/08/2024 7:51:39 AM PDT by yefragetuwrabrumuy ("All he had was a handgun. Why did you think that was a threat?" --Rittenhouse Prosecutor)
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To: Libloather

40 posted on 09/08/2024 7:52:25 AM PDT by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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